Feeding Advice

[Paradoxide]

Hi all first time poster & snake owner..... been having a read here & other places online & cant seem to get an answer. Feed my 5mth old platinum spotted on Sunday (1x pinky) & am trying to get him into a routine. When is the earliest i could feed him again? Wanted to do tonight but dont want to "over" feed him if that is even possible. Want to feed on Wednesdays as he would be handled more on the weekends and have been to to leave him the day before, feeding day & the day after.

 

[nick_75]

Hi, age is not the indicator I would use to determine the size of food you should be feeding a snake.
The size of the animal will determine the food size. Did you receive a history of feeding/shedding from the seller? Did the seller tell you what size food they had been feeding? Are the pinkies mouse or rat? If mouse I would be offering two or three per feed depending on the size of the animal. Rat pinkies would be the preferred option.
One week is the common time lapse between feeds for young animals. You really need to get the food size worked out along with the time between feeds. After eating a snake will go into a warm hide to digest. Digestion time is dependent on the size of the meal and the temp of the enclosure.
The behavior of the snake will be a good indication of whether it is eating enough. If the snake is moving around the enclosure (hunting) three days after a feed, it needs to be fed a bigger food item.
Have you bought any books to guide you in the care of your python? You really should have know about how to feed your mac before buying. I am wondering what else you may have missed. What is your enclosure set up like? In particular size, lighting and heating.
Don't take this as an attack, I want to help you care for your python.

Regards,
Nick

 

[pinefamily]

Welcome APS.
First of all, move up to a bigger size; pinkies aren't very nutritional. A 5 month spotted will easily take at least one size up, if not more. If you have pinkies left, offer two at a time, one after another, until you've used them up.
With feeding, if you want to feed on a certain day, and you fed it on Sunday, offer food again Thursday, and then it will be fine to wait until next Wednesday. Especially if you go the bigger size food.

 

[Paradoxide]

Thanks heaps for the advice.. yeah noticed he was hunting for more food so will offer more tonight. Nick did get a report from the seller with shedding & feeding records but the all seem to be stuffed up. I was told that all the were feed on a tuesday & didnt take much notice until i looked at the report & there were massive gaps everywhere, 10 days here a week there, ended up call them & got another answer. Same with the shedding... apparently only twice since hatched, i know im new but would have thought there would have been more than 2, anyway thats another day... thanks again nick & pf will use up the pinky mice & will look at the next step from there

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

Quite normal to sell on hatchies after 2 sloughs. I have 4 month old BHP's here that have just had their 2nd slough might be another 2 months or more before they go again.
Most important task for the breeder is to make sure the animal is healthy & feeding well. (By well I mean consistently and with ease. I never let animals go that are difficult eaters even if they have had 20 feeds.).
They should have advised you better on food size...I generally give food for 2 feeds to buyers so they can see the size and therefor a visual representation of what to buy because many places use different names for similar sized items.
People feed in line with their day to day lives so if there is a week or more between feeds here and there who cares (might even have been in line with an animal in shed), so long as when I put food in front of it the food is eaten.
Yes I admit there are sellers out there that might not appear so caring as others but please don't go off on one because the feeding regime for the last 3 months isn't exactly every Tuesday.